mottle

[mot-l]

verb (used with object)

mottled, mottling 

1. to mark or diversify with spots or blotches of a different color or shade.

noun

1. a diversifying spot or blotch of color.

2. mottled coloring or pattern.

mottle

/ ˈmɒtəl /

verb

1. (tr) to colour with streaks or blotches of different shades

noun

1. a mottled appearance, as of the surface of marble

2. one streak or blotch of colour in a mottled surface

Other Word Forms

• mottlement noun
• mottler noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of mottle¹

First recorded in 1670–80; probably back formation from motley

Word History and Origins

Origin of mottle¹

C17: back formation from _motley

Example Sentences

The effect is dark and mottled — it looks as if the concrete has swallowed the color.

From Los Angeles Times

The earliest such representations were found on a mottled pink sandstone dating back about 2,000 years and began to be recognised through the sacred symbol of an endless knot on the teachers' chest.

From BBC

More than a century later, fine particles of pollution still clung to its feathers, dulling what once was a scarlet red breast to a mottled gray.

From Los Angeles Times

But there’s something dingy and gross, like mottled drifts of old snow, about the overweening influence of Trump’s courtiers and their grubbing relationship with a president so obviously enamored of money and flattery.

From Los Angeles Times

As dawn breaks and dusk settles, the play of light and shadow turns the river green or gunmetal gray, lustrously pearlescent or mottled brown.

From Los Angeles Times